Shock absorbing fender for vessels

ABSTRACT

A shock absorbing fender for vessels provided on a vessel or shore wall and the like prevents shock damage caused by contact between vessels or contact between a vessel and a shore wall at the time of coming alongside the pier. The shock absorbing fender is comprised of a linear inner tube (1) formed integrally with internal shock absorbing structure (3), a cylindrical body (4) made of elastic material for forming an outer fender body, and a plurality of hollow tubes (5) arranged around the linear inner tube (1) embedded within the cylindrical body (4). According to the invention, the size of the magnitude of the fender is miniaturized but high shock absorbing capacity is exerted, and even if it is utilized in a large or super large vessel, the shocking load is satisfactorily absorbed whereby damage to both the vessel itself or the installation for coming alongside the shore is prevented. High shock absorbing capacity is equally exerted irrespective of the direction of shocking load.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a shock absorbing fender provided onvessels or coastal wall in order to prevent shocking damage caused bycontact between vessel and vessel or contact with a coastal wall at thetime of a vessel coming alongside pier, and more particularly to a shockabsorbing fender for vessels which is made such a manner that tubularbody formed integrally with shock absorbing structure within hollow oftube formed with elastic material such as rubber, elastic plastic or thelike is used as a basic element, wherein tubular body having suchstructure is formed to a linear tube, circular tube or helical tubewhereby plural number of such tubular bodies are arranged adjacent toeach other around the exterior circumference of a central tube of lineartubular body and then their exterior surfaces are covered with elasticmaterial, so that an integral cylindrical body is structured.

BACKGROUND ART

Conventionally, it has already been known that tubular body havingsection of circular, elliptic or similar form with these is formed withelastic material such as rubber or elastic plastic, and such a tubularbody is utilized as a shock absorbing structure such as fender forvessels or bumper for vehicles.

And, also in designing a tubular body member having such a shockabsorbing function, researches on the structure or sectional shape ofmember have been continued from long time ago for the purpose ofimproving durability and further enhancing shock absorbing function ofmember even while sectional area of member is reduced as far as possiblewhereby dimension of product and manufacturing cost are decreased, as aresult, various ideas have been proposed. For example, techniquesrelated to bumper for vehicles can be cited which are respectivelydisclosed in British Patent No. 1562254 granted to Aurelio Brollo ofItaly and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,320,913 issued to Shigeharu Koroda ofJapan. That is, in these patents, technique related to a bumper forvehicles is disclosed in which in forming tube tubular body with elasticmaterial such as rubber or elastic plastic, shock absorbing structureswith several partitions arranged within hollow of said tubular body soas to be crossed in X-shape by intersecting said hollow or in radialshape is formed integrally through lengthwise direction of the tubularbody whereby toughness and restorability are increased, so thatexcellent shock absorbing capacity is included against highly shockingload even if a shock is applied from any direction.

And, a rubber bumper is known in which shock absorbing structures havingdifferent structure relative to that in aforementioned two patents isintegrally formed within tubular body of circular or elliptic shape insection made of anti-elastic material, in international patentapplication PCT/KR85/00013 which is filed by the inventor of thisapplication on Jun. 4, 1985 and published by International publicationNo. WO86/00051 on Jan. 3, 1986.

However, since the shock absorbing structure having structures asdescribed above is designed suitably for utilizing as bumper for mainlyvehicle, it is not suitable as a structure of fender for utilizing inmedium or large vessels. A shock absorbing structure capable of equallyusing from small vessel to large or super large vessel is required inthe case of fender for vessel, and since shocking load to be applied tothe fender is also applied with further larger big load relative to thecase of bumper for vehicle from irregular direction, a shock absorbingstructure capable of absorbing effectively such a high shocking load isrequired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a shockabsorbing fender for vessel in which magnitude of fender is miniaturizedbut high shock absorbing capacity is exerted whereby any shocking loadis sufficiently absorbed even if it is utilized in large or super largevessel so that damaging of vessel itself or installation for comingalongside the shore is possible to be protected, as well as high shockabsorbing capacity is possible to be equally exerted regardless ofapplying direction of shocking load.

To accomplish the object of the invention, tubular body formedintegrally with shock absorbing structures within hollow of tube formedwith elastic material such as rubber or elastic plastic is utilized as abasic element, and a plurality of tubular bodies having such structureare arranged so as to be superposed in double whereby one cylindricalcombined body is structured, and then elastic material such as rubber iscovered by molding method to exterior of this combined body, so thatcylindrical main body of single body is structured.

The tubular bodies forming the combined body are formed with such formof circular tube or helical tube, and shock absorbing structural bodyformed integrally within these respective tubular body can be structuredwith partitions of X-shape or radial line shape or else other knownvarious forms. And, said shock absorbing structures may be formed atleast partially through lengthwise direction of tubular body, but it ispreferred to be formed through entire length.

And, method for structuring the tubular structural body can be executedin various ways, but generally a tubular body of linear type is disposedat center and then a plurality of tubular bodies of circular type areserially arranged by adjoining each other around its circumferencewhereby a cylindrical combined body is structured, otherwise a tubularbody of linear type can be disposed at the center and then other tubularbodies of linear type are arranged by adjoining each other around itscircumference in parallel to lengthwise direction whereby a cylindricalcombined body can be structured. And, a tubular body of linear type isdisposed at the center and then other tubular bodies formed of helicaltube form are arranged around its circumference whereby a cylindricalcombined body can be structured.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is partly cut out longitudinal sectional view showing a fenderaccording to a preferred embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along the line II--II of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is a partly cut out longitudinal sectional view showing a fenderaccording to another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken along the line IV--IV of FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 is a partly cut out longitudinal sectional view showing a fenderaccording to still another embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken along the line IV--IV of FIG. 5,and

FIG. 7 is a partly cut out longitudinal sectional view showing a fenderaccording to a further embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will bedescribed in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

A preferred embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a first embodimentshowing a primary form of a fender of the present invention, whereinreference symbol A represents a cylindrical fender. At the center of thefender A, there is located with linear inner tube 1 of hollow tube bodymade of elastic material such as rubber as reinforcing core material.And, within the hollow 2 of the linear inner tube 1, a shock absorbingstructure is provided by extending in lengthwise direction so as to beintegrally formed with the inner wall of the linear inner tube 1. On thecircumferential surface of the linear inner tube 1, a cylindrical body 4made of elastic material such as rubber is integrally formed thickly bya method such as molding. Within the interior of said cylindrical body4, several outer tubes 5 of circular type having shock absorbingstructure 3' within the interior of hollow 2' as well are embedded in astate of adjoining each other, and between these outer tubes 5 and 5'coil springs 6 and 6' are embedded so as to serve function ofreinforcing core strip.

Since the fender having such a structure is formed with double structurein which hollow linear inner tube 1 and a plurality of outer tubes 5having respectively shock absorbing structures 3 and 3' within theinterior are combined in a direction of crossing each other, the shockabsorbing function against a shock is very much excellent and it issuitable for using as a fender provided to the shore wall and the likeof pier, and even if its magnitude is miniaturized, it can effectivelyabsorb any large shock load applied at the time when large or superlarge vessel comes alongside the shore, even if any shocking load issuccessively applied from irregular direction during coming alongsidethe shore or after having come alongside the shore, these aresatisfactorily endured, so that damaging of vessel body or mooringinstallation can be prevented.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show another embodiment of the present invention, in thisembodiment, within the interior of cylindrical body 4 of fender A,several hollow outer tubes 5' formed of linear tube type are arranged byassembling each other in parallel with the linear inner tube 1, thisstructure can also be expected with shock absorbing effect equal to thefender of the aforementioned first embodiment.

And, the embodiment shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 shows the third embodimentthat the embodiment of FIG. 1 is changed. That is, in this embodiment,outer tube embedded within the cylindrical body 4 of fender A is formedin a form of helical tube 5" whereby it is embedded within thecylindrical body 4 by same manner as in the first embodiment.

FIG. 7 shows further embodiment of the present invention utilizing wastetires, wherein outer tubes 5 of circular tube form as in firstembodiment are embedded within the body 4 in a state of insertingrespectively into the interior of waste tire 7, in which shock absorbingcapacity included with the tire itself is utilized, whereby shockabsorbing capacity of fender can be more increased, as well as saving ofmaterial forming the body 4 is intended, and at the same time, inviewing from a point that the tires being of industrial waste materialcan be utilized, double effects are obtained.

In the above-described embodiments, it is described by citing examplesthat outer tubes are arranged in a row around the exterior circumferenceof linear inner tube, but it is possible to execute by arranging withtwo rows or three rows according to the required dimension of fender, ashock absorbing structures 3 and 3' formed integrally within theinterior of the inner and outer tubes 1, 5, 5' and 5" can of course beexecuted by modifying into various forms other than exemplifiedstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A shock absorbing fender for vessels comprising:acylindrical outer body made of an elastic material; a plurality ofelastic shock absorbing tubes embedded within the outer body, each tubehaving an inner tube surface integrally connected with an inner shockabsorbing structure for elastically resisting collapse of the tube, theinner shock absorbing structure comprising a plurality of elastic wallsrunning lengthwise within the tube and radiating outwardly from a centerline in the tube to the inner tube surface in a spoked fashion; and aplurality of coil springs embedded in the cylindrical outer body.
 2. Ashock absorbing fender for vessels comprising:a cylindrical outer bodymade of an elastic material; a central tube running lengthwise andembedded within the outer body; and a plurality of toroidal tubes thatencircle the central tube and are embedded within the outer body; eachof the central tube and toroidal tubes having an inner tube surfaceintegrally connected with an inner shock absorbing structure forelastically resisting collapse of the tube, the inner shock absorbingstructure comprising a plurality of elastic walls running lengthwisewithin the tube and radiating outwardly from a center line in the tubeto the inner tube surface in a spoked fashion.
 3. The shock absorbingfender of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of tires embeddedwithin the outer body wherein each tire surrounds a toroidal tube.
 4. Ashock absorbing fender for vessels comprising:a cylindrical outer bodymade of an elastic material; a central tube running lengthwise andembedded within the outer body; and a long surrounding tube helicallywound about the central tube and embedded within the outer body; each ofthe central tube and surrounding tube having an inner tube surfaceintegrally connected with an inner shock absorbing structure forelastically resisting collapse of the tube, the inner shock absorbingstructure comprising a plurality of elastic walls running lengthwisewithin the tube and radiating outwardly from a center line in the tubeto the inner tube surface in a spoked fashion.